Willow Underground
by kellani celina
Summary: A young elf encounters the goblin King at a time when no one knows what he looks like.
1. Chapter 1

Kiri raced into the forest, Taylan close on her heels. At 12, she wasn't quite as fast as her older brother, but she used her head start to her advantage. Although Taylan lived with Asha now, the two still spent a lot of time together. "Beat you!" She exclaimed, touching the rough bark of the oak tree that was always their destination.

Taylan merely shook his head in exasperation. He may have been old enough to care for a fiancée, but at 15 he was embarrassed to lose to his little sister. "You had a head start."

"I always get a head start." She smiled with her entire body. Her black eyes seemed to light up as she contradicted him. "That's the rules because I'm the youngest."

Taylan couldn't stay frustrated at her, and ruffled her equally black hair. "The rules may have to change soon. Besides, you're not _that_ little anymore. Rumor has it that Father has been talking to some suitors for you."

Kiri refused to become serious. "You're just lovestruck with Asha; Father would never consider betrothing me yet. Especially to a commoner!"

"Did I say he was a commoner?" Taylan hinted.

Kiri looked at him knowingly. "No. But there are no young lords in camp asides from you, and you're my brother." She laughed. "And we've had no visitors since Aganir Thalion brought his court last winter. It's impossible that Father's had any proposals."

"You know too much." Taylan said fondly. "Let's race back to camp fairly, no head start for you. I'd expect Asha wants to eat her morning meal."

Always game for a challenge, Kiri counted off. At three they sprinted back towards camp. Taylan had pointed out a different route than they normally took, one that involved jumping a small stream. Kiri fell a bit behind, and tried to catch up valiantly. As a result she mistimed her jump, fell onto the far bank, and cracked her skull on a rock. Taylan was far enough ahead that he didn't hear her fall, and when she didn't find him in camp, assumed she was sulking.

Kiri came to with a gasp. The stream had carried her away from where she had fallen, and had deposited her on a sandy bank. Standing over her was a willow sapling. Its long finger-like branches touched her bruises, and they healed. She swore she saw it blink with mismatched green and amber eyes; however she had suffered a head wound. The sun started to rise, and she shut her eyes against the light. She buried her face into one of the two roots that poked out of the sand, and fell asleep.

At twilight the willow was nowhere to be seen, although she was still on the sandy shore. She assumed it was a hallucination, but she drew the characters for thank you on the ground where the tree had been. Kiri knew that she had been incredibly lucky, but quickly forgot the incident after she got back to camp.

1

Kiri looked into her fiancé's dark eyes, and felt nothing but trapped. She needed to run, but no one let her leave camp unattended since her return five years ago. Lotus treated her like some delicate flower. They'd been engaged the night she came back, and he never let her out of his sight. Even when it was his turn to hunt, he made sure she was suitably engaged with some activity and to make things worse, he had a friend of his watch her. Sure, Kiri liked him, she also respected him and trusted him, but she had no desire to see him all the time. She wanted just one more night running. Her marriage moon was so close, just a week away, and she wasn't ready for that.

"Lotus?" she asked guiltily. Boldly she continued, "do you mind if I go for a walk to gather my thoughts? I've been feeling very distracted recently."

Lotus sat up on his pallet, "let me get my shoes on." He said.

"I meant by myself." Kiri clarified. "We'll be married so soon, I need some alone time to get ready."

Her fiancé looked slightly perplexed. "But I want to keep you safe."

"I won't go far from camp. No further than earshot, I promise." Kiri crossed her fingers behind her back.

"Be back in time for the midnight meal," he agreed. "And no further than earshot. I don't want to lose you so close to our marriage moon."

"There hasn't been goblin activity in this area forever!" She exclaimed, in her excitement she reclaimed a little bit of the childish spirit that Lotus had fallen in love with.

He squeezed her hand. "All the more reason to be careful. Have a lovely walk."

Kiri nearly danced out of the tent in excitement. A whole half night to herself, Lotus was practically being generous. She retraced the old route to the oak tree. Taylan was too busy being responsible for his infant son to even come out of camp. Asha hadn't survived childbirth, leaving the devastated Taylan to be a single parent. Although he had plenty of help, Kiri noted, many of the unattached girls flocked to Taylan. His status as future camp lord was desirable, and his noble black hair and eyes made him very attractive. Kiri thought her brother was more handsome than the elf King, however she knew she was biased.

Unconsciously she found herself walking along the stream bed. There hadn't been much rain over the summer, and now there was barely a trickle in the center. A little child could have stepped over it without a problem. Eventually, she reached a sandy bank that had an etching in it. "Thank you." She read, and she noticed a willow tree pointing one branch to her. Its leaves rustled in the early autumn wind, and Kiri felt a chill unrelated to the changing seasons. She glanced at the sky. She was going to be late, recklessly she darted back town the streambed away from the willow, and the faint tugging at her memory.

2

Over the course of the week, Kiri grew even more preoccupied. She couldn't shake a nagging feeling that she was being watched. She begged her fiancé to let her walk in the woods alone, but he felt he had been more than generous and refused. She had told him what she had seen on the river bank, and he had no interest in allowing her to be foolish. Lotus did not tell Kiri because he was deeply in love with her, but there had been news that the old goblin King had died. No elf knew what the new King looked like, but the men were all aware that he'd be searching for a new bride. Lotus had come from a camp closer to the border, and they had posted sentries. Here elves lived in a false sense of security.

The moon was nearly full, and Kiri slipped out of camp at twilight. She took off at a run in a direction unknown, and eventually she ended up at the stream bank. The willow was watching her.

"You're nervous for your marriage, little elf?" The tree spoke in a quiet voice, not the gravelly one that Kiri would have expected. That's it, she thought, I've finally gone crazy.

As if in a dream, she responded "Lotus is a good man; however, he cares more for his artwork than he cares for me. If he loved me, I wouldn't have to run away." Her heart cleared upon saying that, because she recognized it was truth. A large portion of Lotus's magic, and therefore his heart, was invested in artistic ability.

"Are you really running away? Or running to something?" The tree asked.

Kiri thought about it. "I suppose I'm running to this place. I'm not sure how, but recently my mind has been wandering here a lot. And I don't really remember what happened here." She laughed. "It's funny, but I don't even know how to get here really."

The tree could have smiled, had it a discernable face. "You aren't running to any place in particular, you're running to me. You've been running to me ever since the day we met."

"How could I be running to a tree that is in more than one place?"

"But Kiri, I'm not a tree." And the tree opened its eyes. Mismatched amber and green eyes stared at her. She could see a protrusion in the bark that was roughly equivalent to a nose. And a hollow that was a mouth. The tree lowered its two large branches to its side. "My name is Marak."

Despite being sheltered, Kiri recognized the name. She was face to face with the goblin King: the goblin King that no elf had ever seen before. She considered running for a moment, but the tree's roots were wrapped around her feet. Although she knew it was a goblin, the thought of hurting a tree was despicable to her.

"I'm glad you don't deeply love your fiancé. It will make this much easier on you." Marak said, taking her smooth hands in one of his leafy ones.

Kiri looked at him desperately. "No it won't!" She shouted. "I am about to lose everything. How dare you tell me otherwise! And I do love Lotus!" Kiri hoped that her fiancé had heard and would come rescue her, but she doubted it. Elves had keen hearing, but she assumed she was very far away.

"Now my dear," Marak said, "you realize that nothing can get inside the border spell without being brought in by an elf. That includes noise."

"Let me go. I want to go home." Kiri demanded, panic edging her voice.

"You will go home," he said soothingly. "Very soon in fact." Marak glanced at the moon. Kiri followed his gaze, but saw nothing. She felt herself sinking, and within a minute she no longer saw the moon, it was covered by a think dirt ceiling. She was trapped underground.

3.

Kiri was always an active elf, with magic relating to physicality. She was faster and stronger than normal elves. She had sharpened senses. With these gifts came limitations: a shorter attention span, a disinterest in normal elvish entertainment, and underground a heightened sense of claustrophobia. She paced the small bridal chamber, banging the iron door with her fists. Normally an elf abhorred metal, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Stop Kiri." The command was enforced with magic, but Kiri ignored it. Marak tried another tactic. "The sooner you stop fighting, the sooner you'll get out of this room."

Kiri paused with consideration. The chamber she was in was perhaps 12x12, with an eight foot ceiling. The branches extending from Marak's head nearly scraped against it. She couldn't feel any airflow. It couldn't get any worse. She nodded.

"Drink this." He held out a goblet. The thin fingers were strong enough to support the weight of the golden cup. When she didn't immediately cooperate, one finger pulled her forward, another opened her jaw, and a third poured the contents down her throat. It didn't matter that the potion was to take away her words, because she was speechless.

She was passed into the room with the woman. They stripped her completely, an unknown indignity to the girl. Kiri had never bathed in warm water before, or without her under-dress. She blushed, making her even prettier. The hideous woman with shark teeth and soulless eyes, and the woman with the moose antlers nodded their approval. Horrible creatures the size of mothballs used their many tentacles to make final adjustments on a floor length red dress. Kiri was uncomfortable as they laced her in. The shiny material constricted her breathing and movement in general.

She was shackled, and dragged into the corridor by the guards who simply looked at her with distaste. Kiri gathered the scraps of her dignity and walked. The remainder of the ceremony passed in a painful blur. She was slashed across the hands, and her beautiful hair was cut. At some point tears began falling mixing into the silver cloud that declared her fully elf. When Marak brought out the sword she simply closed her eyes, exhausted from the trials of the day. Marak had to carry his half sleeping bride out of the room, and deposit her on the couch in the receiving room.

4.

Her first night underground, the first thing she noticed was a tree in the corner of the room. Thinking she was still dreaming, she crawled over to it, wrapped her arms around the thin trunk, and fell back asleep. Marak was pleasantly surprised to see his wife by his side already. However when she woke up she was temperamental at best. Kiri refused to leave the room, and refused to let him leave either.

"You brought me here; you had better stay with me." She said furiously. Marak said nothing, merely brushed her hair out of her face. Eventually Kiri broke down and sobbed. "I was supposed to get married now. To Lotus, not to a monster!" She added emphatically. "The other girls would have brought me flowers, and the whole camp would have danced for me. My father would have been so proud; he must be so worried now. And Taylan- aside from the baby, he's lost almost everything he's ever loved. And, and…" she was completely overcome. There was nothing her new husband could do but listen to her cry.

For several days, Kiri forced Marak to stay in the chamber with her. She alternated between running in circles around the small room and collapsing at his feet, stroking his bark. After her initial outburst she held her emotions inside of her. Being an elf, she still was completely beautiful but the stress began to show. She developed large bags-symmetrical of course- under her eyes, and her hair started to lose its curl, but other than that she showed no outward signs of her despair. Occasionally another goblin would come in to conference with the King, at which point she would hide her head under the couch and cover her ears until they left. It was a very trying time.

On the fifth day of her antics, Marak looked at his bride. "We're going upstairs." He decided. "You're going to get sick in this little room; I'm getting sick of it." Not for the first time, he wished there were other elves in his kingdom. His mother, the only elf captured in the last generation had died immediately after his birth.

Kiri closed her eyes in acquiescence, but she refused to open them again until they reached the privacy of the royal level. "I'll leave this room, but I will not see your subjects."

"Our subjects," Marak reminded her as he guided her up a flight of stairs. "You're not going back to the elves; you should accept that these are your people now."

Mulishly, Kiri shook her head. "Tell me when we've reached the rooms."

After awhile Marak signaled that she could open her eyes. They were assaulted by the bright reflections of the lamps against polished gold walls. Everything sparkled with artificial splendor. Kiri hated it. The only thing she appreciated was the space to run, and a small balcony that overlooked the valley. At certain times of the day the sun shone through the water, and she could pretend it was the moon. Immediately after marriage Marak began toying with her sleep schedule making her diurnal like a goblin. Slightly more comfortable in the larger space, she still would not mingle with her subjects or see any other goblins.

5.

Kiri felt no love for her husband, but he was the only thing in that world that made sense. Being a tree, he belonged in her world. She took comfort in him being there, and as time passed she also took comfort in his personality rather than just his form. After about a month of isolation boredom drove her to accept the offer of visiting the artificial grove. They could not compete with real trees, or her husband, for realism but the jeweled trees offered some respite from the shiny rooms she was used to. Finally, she began to accept her fate although she still wasn't integrating.

"Marak," she asked in elvish, interrupting his tale about his father, Marak Horntounge's, visit to the human village and his subsequent humiliation. "Why do you look like a tree?"

"Nobody is sure." He answered. "There has never been a goblin King that has taken on plant characteristics. The closest are Kings who are green, or have craggy skin."

"But there has to be a reason, a hypothesis?" Kiri pressed.

"My mother never adjusted here, my father said. She grew to appreciate my father to an extent, but never really felt strongly about the people. According to his notes, something that she did appreciate is the variation in goblin form, and the beauty of my father's eyes. However, she also was still longed for the elven way of life. They say that her fiancé's name was Willow- which is why they think I look so much like a tree. My father loved my mother's nature, and loved her despite the fact that she was deeply in love with Willow. And that is why I look like a tree."

"So if I decided that I like that you look like a tree…"

"Then when the time comes for us to try, our son may also be treeish. But the magic works in mysterious ways."

"I think," she said, "we'll be waiting awhile to find out."

"We have plenty of time. Our lines say that we will both live a long life." He looked sad. "If my parents' lines were like that, you would have had another elf to talk to."

"I would have liked that." Kiri smiled at him- the first real smile she had given him since she moved into the kingdom.


	2. Chapter 2

"When I said I would have liked to meet your mother, I did not mean that I wanted you to kidnap another girl and drag her down here!" Kiri shouted. For good measure she threw a knick knack at him. After several months in the kingdom, she no longer saw him as a tree; she viewed him only as a goblin.

Marak brushed aside the assault, his defense magic didn't even activate- a decorative throw pillow could not hurt him. "Kiri you refuse to adjust to kingdom life. I could not think of anything else to do." He said calmly. He valued his wife's spirit, but he wished she would accept the inevitable.

"Put her back." Kiri demanded. She was so upset that retreating inside herself was no longer an option. She needed to confront him. "Whoever the girl is, she had a life up there." Kiri gestured towards the ceiling violently. "She had the moon and stars, she had fresh air, and she had people who loved her." Kiri was overcome with longing for the outside world which made her even angrier. How dare her husband destroy another girl's life.

"I can't just put her back. She's married to Karesh now, and we need to strengthen the high families." He smiled weakly. "Having her here will be good for you."

"I refuse to see her." Said the hot-headed King's Wife, and at a loss of what else to do, she fell asleep.

In the morning, she had calmed down enough to be completely mortified by her actions. "Marak?" She whispered.

The goblin King rolled over and faced her. "Yes?" He asked, not at all surprised that his wife had mellowed. He had studied the issue, and many previous kings had commented that their elf wives were more temperamental on full moon nights.

"Were you being serious that you thought meeting the new elf would help me?"

"Goblins don't lie." Marak replied.

"Maybe I'll meet her." Kiri said, apologizing unconventionally. She jumped out of bed and began searching for clothes. Marak had long ago thrown away her dress saying it wasn't helping her adjust. After looking at her wardrobe she chose a green dress that compromised her elvish style and the high fashion required by the goblins. She wriggled impatiently as Marak laced her up. "Maybe I'll meet her right now!" And she darted out of the room.

Marak looked around their room for a pen. He wrote in a small book before following her "the first time Kiri was happy when she woke up in the morning full of plans she wanted to accomplish…" he dated the entry. Oblique apology aside, that morning had been close enough.


	3. Chapter 3

Kiri had forgotten to ask her husband where the new elf was staying. But she was unwilling to let the goblin King hold her back. Her husband had a slightly treeish nature, which left him very level headed, very peaceful, and very slow. Impatiently she exhaled and after pacing for a moment, she gathered her courage and went up to the goblin door guard. "Excuse me," she said politely, "could you show me where the new elf lives? Marak said that they captured one."

She watched his face shift with surprise. The entire guard knew the King's Wife didn't speak to goblins. True, she asked in elvish, but she acknowledged his presence which was a step. The guard couldn't wait to report back to Marak about the developments. "Yes. You can follow me."

Kiri practically skipped after the guard, so excited to see another elf that initially she forgot to be disgusted by his hideousness. She peppered him with questions as they walked through the palace. "What's her name? Where's she from? What does she look like? Do I know her?"Her escort didn't know it, but she had reverted momentarily to the glowing child she had been before capture.

"I don't know anything about her." He replied.

Kiri was quiet for a moment, her bravado replaced by anxiety. She began to notice goblins staring at her, lining the halls for a glimpse of the reclusive King's Wife. Instinctively she raised a hand to tug at her hair, a nervous habit she'd had since childhood. She wished that the guard had responded so that she could have been distracted. Instead of focusing on conversation, she was forced to focus on the guard himself.

Like all guards, he was dressed all in black, which merely emphasized his electric blue skin. He had long black hair that moved around with a life of its own. He wasn't as hideous as most goblins though, Kiri noticed. His eyes were human looking, and he was essentially man shaped. Perhaps he was a bit shorter and thinner, but not to a grotesque degree. She wondered if all goblins guarding the royal floors were picked to be good looking. It'd be typical Marak, trying to make her more comfortable. "What's your name?" She asked to fill the silence.

"Bendric." He replied. Kiri repeated the unfamiliar goblin word but before she could ask any more questions, they arrived at the other elf's room.

Opening the door, Kiri was assailed by forest scents. The room was made in image of a stretch of woodland; she wondered why Marak had never brought her there. Fake trees were scattered around the room, spheres of light hung from the ceiling mimicking constellations. Instinctively Kiri knew that they reflected the real constellations outside. There was a stream winding its way through the room and ending at a decorative pool. Sitting near the water was Karesh, an upper level guardsman, and a new elf.

The newcomer had golden hair, which marked her as an obvious commoner, and was transfixed by what her husband was saying. Kiri chose to observe her acting naturally rather than introduce herself immediately. Karesh was holding his new wife's hair tenderly, without it seeming restrictive, and she was laughing at something he said. She appeared to be slightly paler than normal, but the claustrophobia justified that. Kiri stepped around a tree trunk for a better view and the new elf heard her. Her blond curls swung as she looked towards the source of the noise, and Kiri saw her bright blue eyes open wider.

"You're Kiri?" The new elf called. "Come and sit by us! Karesh has told me all about you."

Kiri wandered over startled by how open and excited the girl sounded after just being captured. She sat down nervously. Karesh, a fairly human looking goblin, understood her fear so he stood up and said, "Kiri isn't ready to be around goblins quite yet. I'll go to our tent for awhile." And he walked away, a bushy fox tail wagging slowly from a hole cut in his waste coat.

The elf girl wasn't fazed. She grabbed Kiri's hand and introduced herself. "My name is Sella. I'm from the Left-foot Star Camp. But I suppose I live here now."

Kiri watched for signs of unhappiness, but the girls happy face didn't fall at all. There wasn't even a dimming in her eyes. Kiri was slightly disappointed. "How long have you lived here?" She asked.

"I think I was captured a few weeks ago. Maybe?" She replied. "Yes, three weeks ago." She stroked a reddish hair wrapped around her wrist. "Because it was the week before my marriage moon."

Kiri was surprised that Marak hadn't told her about Sella, but she realized that the king was probably giving his newest captive time to adjust. "How are you so happy here?" Kiri enquired again. She was beginning to suspect that Sella might be mentally defective.

"Oh, I hated it at first. It was so bright and scary." She said offhandedly. "But my camp was so boring. My camp lord was very militaristic, and he had no use for an over imaginative girl. So after the initial shock of being in the kingdom, I realized that it's not so bad here after all. And Karesh is very sweet, he brings me flowers from outside and everything."

Well, elves were naturally optimistic, but it seemed that Sella was beyond the pale. Slightly annoyed, Kiri asked a few more questions then asked to leave. Sella didn't seem insulted at all; rather she bouncily escorted Kiri to the door, chattering the entire way. "Visit anytime!" She called out.

"I'll come back soon." Kiri replied, and she thought to herself that Marak was a genius. Having a genuine elf around would help her reconnect with her elvish nature. Having that elf be slightly deranged would drive her to connect with the goblins so that she could maintain her sanity.

Her husband, meeting her in the hallway, wondered why his wife looked so amused. But he said nothing.


	4. Chapter 4

Kiri maintained to her husband that the only reason she visited Sella was to help the other elf transition. That Sella was a necessary evil. If she was callous, she would have avoided the cheerful woman just to spite Marak, but Kiri felt responsible for Sella's capture. Thus she felt required to spend time with her and give her a taste of the world both women had lost. Or so she said. Truthfully, she was thankful for Marak's consideration, but she would never admit it. Instead she griped every time she left for a visit, hoping to guilt him into releasing Sella from her marriage.

After complaining to her husband, Kiri would pick up her dignity, and walk down to the forest room with Bendric. They would exchange some pleasantries, but Bendric knew his place as a guard and was usually unresponsive after a few sentences. This frustrated Kiri, all the other guards were fawning, and she should appreciate a change in pace. However Kiri wanted nothing more than to consider the blue goblin her friend. She never imagined that he was best friends with the King and passed everything he learned to Marak. Oblivious, she continued her attempts at making him talk.

One afternoon, while she was talking to Sella, her mind wandered out to the hallway where she and Bendric had made almost conversation earlier that day. She was thrilled by the progress, and realized she lost track of the present conversation only after Sella's chatter fell silent.

Sella seemed to be waiting for a response, her delicate hands were folded, and her blue eyes were shining.

"I'm sorry; I didn't hear what you last said." Kiri said politely, desperately hoping it wasn't anything important.

"I said that I'm pregnant. Karesh and I are going to have a baby!" Sella looked ecstatic, and Kiri felt slightly nauseated.

"Congratulations." She muttered. Kiri stood quickly, "I'm afraid I have to go now. Marak is taking me to the library this afternoon."

"But you only just got here." Sella protested, grabbing Kiri's hand and pulling her back down. "And I need someone to talk to about my baby. Anyways, since when have you wanted to spend time with your husband?" And she resumed a happy babbling about names, and gender, and what she hoped the baby would look like.

Kiri lost it. "Are you serious? How can you possibly be happy about this? You've lost everything from up there, and now you're trapped even more. A goblin baby and you're thrilled. It's sickening."

Kiri watched unmoved as Sella teared up and ran to her tent. She was disgusted by the treachery. Sella had adjusted perfectly to kingdom life. She was having a baby. She didn't know how to act like an elf. They may have been born only a few months apart, but Kiri felt eons older. She never imagined that she was the one acting childish. As she watched Karesh run his hands through his wife's hair and whisper words of comfort, Kiri turned on her heel and left the room. She had no greater wish than that she could also leave the kingdom.

Bendric was waiting for her at the door, but Kiri ran past him. She knew the path to her rooms, and did not want to see any goblin. Especially a goblin that she wished was her friend. On the royal level, she ran onto her balcony and began sobbing at the injustice of it all.


	5. Chapter 5

The moon was invisible through the lake water, no matter how much Kiri willed it otherwise. She had hoped that the full moon would leave some mark of its presence somewhere other than her heart. It didn't. She had sneaked out of the royal rooms, and was sitting by herself in the lake valley. The kingdom's lamps were dimmed in the palace, but here it was almost pitch black. Her elvish eyes were more accustomed to the bright light so the dark was almost uncomfortable. When the moon didn't come, it frightened her to realize how much she had changed.

She began shivering; the thin white dress did little to protect her from the "elements." Not that there was any unexpected weather in the kingdom, but it still was chilly at night. The golden snake around her arm shifted on her skin, and draped itself over her shoulders like a shawl. Kiri barely noticed the snake anymore, in the beginning she had seen it as disfiguring and ignored it but tonight she sent thankful thoughts towards it.

Tugging up a blade of grass, she raised it to her nose, crushing it to increase its scent. She could barely remember the smells or feelings of outside. She tried her hardest, but the commonplace memories were fading. Her nature said she shouldn't be underground, but she was exhausting herself by fighting. Her fight was no longer to escape to the outside, but merely to remember it.

She stood up without using her hands, a move she had mastered as a child, and unthinkingly brushed off her dress. White-she mused- and elf would never wear white. She didn't care. The lightness of the fabric was beautiful, was perfect. This dress was her favorite. Kiri shook her head at the foolishness of fixating on her dress, laughing quietly she broke into a run.

The grass bent underfoot on her way back to the palace. And with her hair flowing behind her Kiri felt beautiful. She tilted her head back facing the black ceiling of the lake. For a second she thought she saw the moon peeking through the waves. Transfixed she ran into Sella, knocking her over.

Kiri mumbled an apology. She had been avoiding the girl since Sella's revelation. At dinner she would pick at her food, looking everywhere but at the other elf's visible pregnancy. They both ate with the goblin court now; Marak had determined Kiri's period of adjustment was over. Kiri accepted the changes, but didn't appreciate them.

Extending a hand, she pulled Sella up. Her other hand was greeted with a hard kick as it touched Sella's abdomen. "The baby says hi." Sella said. She wasn't oblivious to Kiri's discomfort, but she still pretended to be. The stress of pregnancy hadn't changed her demeanor at all, but it had aged her slightly.

The kindness in the other woman's eyes jarred Kiri. She shifted her gaze to the ground and muttered. "Hi baby." Suddenly she realized her childishness. She didn't know if it was the glimpse of the moon, or if she had finally adjusted to goblin life, but she was ashamed for how she treated the other woman. "I'm so sorry." She whispered.

Sella drew her in, patting her back. "It's okay. I'm sorry too." Sella knew the words were irrational, but they needed to be said.

"Please don't apologize." Kiri said. "It's my fault you're here. And I haven't even talked to you for months. I've been so stubborn." She broke down into tears. And because she was an elf, they were beautiful.

Marak, who had followed Sella on her visitation, watched his wife with pride. The child was finally becoming a woman. Despite the fact that Kiri was technically an elvish woman, the trauma had kept her young. And yet it had aged her prematurely. As he watched her shoulders shake, he saw the barriers fall away. He distantly heard Sella say. "I'm happy here; being here has given me more than the outside world ever could."

And even quieter was Kiri's response. "I suppose it isn't so bad here."


	6. Chapter 6

The newest addition to the kingdom wailed as the midwife carried it away from its mother to be cleaned up. The goblin King looked up from the elf woman on the bed. "She lost a lot of blood when the membranes ruptured."

"She'll be okay though right?"

"It was touch and go for a moment, but thankfully my magic will allow her to pull through."

The people around the bed nodded in relief, the labor had lasted 32 hours. They were all exhausted. Karesh slumped at Sella's bedside still squeezing her hand. Kiri, on her other side, clamped her eyes shut, not wanting to see the newborn.

"Where's my baby?" Sella demanded. "I don't care if it's clean or not, bring it here."

"It's a girl," the midwife announced.

Marak himself lifted the baby from the midwife's arms to give to Sella. He Called it ensuring its eternal loyalty and obedience. The baby didn't seem to miss her freedom though; she was content in the arms of her mother.

As the baby's cries ceased, Sella's cries began.

Karesh however was ecstatic. "She's perfect, what on earth are you crying about?"

"You have to say that," Sella sniffed. "you're her father."

"So? I'm still entitled to an opinion?"

"You're biased. Kiri, what do you think?"

Kiri slowly opened her eyes, preparing for the worse. She and Sella had grown closer over the last several months, and Kiri genuinely cared for her feelings. After the labor, she knew her friend would be emotional. Kiri had grown up a lot. Expecting a monstrosity, she looked at the newborn.

She gasped.

"What is it?" Sella demanded protectively, she pulled her baby closer to her breast.

Shocked, the King's Wife couldn't have hurt the baby had she wanted to. She was stunned. Her black eyes widened as she took in the baby. Her gaze was met by one black eye and one amber eye. The infant was a blend of her parents. Fine blond curls were mixed with red wisps and, surprisingly, red feathers. No wings, but a few longer feathers formed a tail. She had her mother's elvish beauty; somehow the combination worked.

"She's so beautiful." Kiri said. "No lies."

A watery grin split Sella's face. She gently stroked her daughter's hair; in response the baby burped sparks.

"And," Kiri added, "she obviously has your energy, even if she is goblin."

Kiri and Marak decided to give the family some privacy. Kiri couldn't help but sneak a covetous glance at the baby before leaving the room, a fact that her husband obviously noticed. They wandered out to the lake valley where Kiri ran and Marak simply let his roots touch the earth. Both were in their separate elements. With no more misgivings about being underground, Kiri was trying to make the best of her captivity.

Panting, she lay at her husband's side. As he joined her on the ground, he creaked and groaned. "You're just like a tree." She exclaimed.

"I've heard that before, from you and from others."

"Yes, but you even sound like a tree. I've never noticed before."

"You haven't been paying attention."

It was true; she hadn't given her husband nearly as much attention as she had in the beginning. He was no longer the only link to her lost world, she had a new world. He deserved more; she vowed to try to improve their marriage. "I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven." Then he rasped awkwardly, "I saw how you looked at the baby."

Kiri blushed. "She's beautiful. Elves like pretty things."

"She's a goblin. By loving that child, you'll overcome your hatred of my people. We niddug."

"Perhaps." She stroked his leafy hair, uncharacteristically showing him affection.

"Perhaps you want a child of your own?" He sounded uncomfortable with the idea, and with asking his own wife for permission.

Where once she would have jumped and reacted violently to the suggestion, she merely turned her face towards his. Her eyes fixed on his and she recognized hidden beauty in them. She nodded her assent, and then lifted her head for a kiss. She knew exactly what he would be chronicling about that night.


End file.
